Dryland Race

By Sunnifa Deehr, Race Marshal

ASPA’s Spring Fling dryland races were a roaring success! It was a balmy 55 degrees in the shade at Birch Hill on Sunday, May 17th, when 17 dryland competitors from as far away as Anchorage gathered to run, bike, and scooter with their dogs.

The largest turnout was for the one-dog canicross, with 3 men and 8 women running a hilly 1.77-mile course. Rose Hewitt and her dog Jones outran Brie Van Dam and her dog Vilde by a mere 5 seconds for a first place in the women’s division. Drew Harrington with his dog, Xena, won the men’s division, followed closely by Matt Cameron and his dog, Allover.

Men and women shared the bikejor and scooter divisions. Florian Derschau was the single entrant for the two-dog bikejor with a time of 8:19 for an extended 2-mile course. The one-dog bikejor was also highly competitive as the top 4 riders completed the course within the same minute. Cody Strathe and Chris Burrow also did 2 miles on scooters with two dogs each, coming in almost a minute apart.

Thanks to race marshal, Sunnifa Deehr, trail volunteers Hilary Schwafel and Nina Ruckhaus, and timers Sara Elzey, Mara Bacsujlaky, Pauline Tise and Charles Deehr. The race was sanctioned by the International Federation of Sleddog Sports through the efforts of Race Director Chris Burrow. Special thanks and recognition goes to Dr. Barb Cole, owner of Aurora Animal Clinic, for volunteering to be the official race veterinarian.